Marriott Rewards Card "could" be the best travel card out there

(Posted on 1/30/13 at 8:52 pm)

This works best if you are a business traveler, but don't they all???

at 270k Marriott points (category 1-5), you get 7 nights at a Marriott resort of your choice worldwide, plus 120k airline miles of your choice. 120k airline miles gets you and a partner to pretty much anywhere on United or a Star Alliance flight. Those 7 nights can be Aruba, Costa Rica, Spain, you name it.

I am going to make a comparison with a few other cards and feel free to draw your own conclusions. For the comparison, I am using a 7 night stay in the Marriott at Aruba ($439 per night) for a total of 3073. Looks like about 1100 for 2 in airfare from my home airport. So, we need approximately 4200 in value.

Capital One Venture card...you get double points on everything, or .02 cents on the dollar. You need to spend 210k dollars on this card to achieve this.

Chase Sapphire. This is the card I have and I average about 1.8 points per dollar since I spend most of my money on food, hotel, airfare, etc... 233,333k to achieve this.

Marriott Rewards Card. If you stay at a Marriott property you get 5 points per dollar that you spend there, this is where you really can rake it in. If you stay at full service Marriott's, you get 10 points per dollar spent there on everything (NOT card related). By using your card, you just upped that to 15. Plus you get 2 for food, airlines, other hotels, etc..

Edit for Aruba re-calculations: Since the Aruba hotel is a Category 7, you actually need 330k points. So, just by staying at Marriott properties alone, you only need to spend 22k to get a week's trip with airfare. This seems like a lot, but for a frequent business traveler like myself, I rack this up easily in a year. Also, if you stay frequently, you get up to a 50% bonus on your points (I am a platinum member), so that 22k becomes 16.5k (in between if you are a gold or silver member). Add in food and the rest, and you make it even quicker.

Now what about if you don't stay at Marriotts that often, but would like a trip with one? To beat the Capital One Venture, you need to average a little above 1.5 points per dollar spent to reach 330k. So if you spend most of your dollars on hotels, flights, or food, the Marriott wins.

The obvious downside is you are tied to Marriott properties for your vacation, but let's be honest, using these cards, you have to save up a lot of points for a long time to really pay for a good trip. I use a Chase Sapphire and put about 50k last year on it for work travel only and I am sitting at about 16-1700 worth of travel, and that includes a 50k signup bonus. I am also sitting on 125k Marriott points, minus the 40k I used for a cheer competition for the kids, and when I check out of my Hawaii Hotel, I will get about 50k more next week. Had I used a Marriott Rewards card all year, I would have made 50% more points, so I would have 220k in my account, plus the 50k signup bonus and I would be on my way to Aruba this summer...

So, I know it was very long, but I believe it to be thought out. It is a different perspective and different approach to choosing a credit card, but all of these cards get the best of us, just seems that w/ a Marriott card if you are a Marriott member and stay there as your hotel choice, you can actually get something out of this deal more frequently.

Edit: I am obviously switching cards soon, just figuring out what to do w/ my 120k on my Chase right now.

re: Marriott Rewards Card "could" be the best travel card out there (Posted on 1/30/13 at 9:59 pm to lynxcat)

quote:Go to flyertalk.com and get them to find the possible holes.

If this works...then I need to re-read what you wrote and figure it out...right now.

A coworker of mine turned me on to the 270k thing through flyertalk and I lurk there quite regularly. I know this is really suited for a place like that, but I lurk here a lot and see the credit card question pop up quite regularly, so thought I might share.

This does show I was mistaken and to get 120k at Aruba, you need 330k, so I will go back and adjust my calculations from that. That makes it 16.5k for a platinum member at a Marriott to spend, still a relatively low number, and that includes no additional spending. However, you could settle for 50k airline miles for 280k and if you are really a frequent traveler, you probably have other miles lying around anyways, so you make the 280k with the original calculations.

You basically decide what hotel you want. You can go to a Category 5 and below with 120k airline miles for 270k points.

As for my claim on the United Airlines thing...just take a look for yourself. 120k gets me to freaking Malaysia from my home airport if I catch a super saver fare.

To put the tiers in perspective, the new JW Marriott in Dubai is only a Tier 6, and it is the tallest hotel only structure in the world. Plus in Dubai, bigger is absolutely better... The Ritz there is a tier 3.

The calculations for the other cards is simple. At 2% cash back for travel, you get .02 cents per dollar spent. I actually did the Chase Sapphire some injustice b/c you get a 20% increase in value if you book through them, but it is still not even close to the Marriott system.

The rest, 5 points per dollar at Marriotts is on the credit card's website, and the 50% bonus is also on the Marriott elite website.

Here is a little trick I found on flyer talk...

Change the 50 to a 70 in the URL and get 70k bonus points for signing up...

There really aren't holes in it as far as blackout, etc... more like restrictions, as in, your vacations WILL be at a Marriott property. It's all legit and using the programs Marriott offers within their limitations. You are just getting hotel points rather than CC points.

Also, as further proof, my coworker is sitting on 400k Marriott points and has already called to confirm that he can use this offer to go to Spain.

re: Marriott Rewards Card "could" be the best travel card out there (Posted on 1/31/13 at 7:21 am to homeskillet)

After the corrections, everything looks right to me. Like another poster said, it's a great deal *if* you stay at Marriott hotels regularly and like staying at Marriott hotels. You are pretty much locked in to using them.

re: Marriott Rewards Card "could" be the best travel card out there (Posted on 2/1/13 at 6:41 am to homeskillet)

Also if you stay at Marriott often there are opportunities to earn at least 3 to 5 free nights a year, usually more. I also think with the card you get 1 free night per year plus credit for 1 night for each $3k you spend. Not a bad card at all, the free nights help you save you points for a good stay but still have nights for weekend trips. ect.